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Ms. August
Downstream in August, down the heron flew,
straight through the secret bower where we stay
in ferny waterfalls, safe from the day,
forgotten as her words, a fonds perdu.
A “girlie calendar” makes one think of men’s lockers, walls of auto repair shops or a military barracks: They’re typically collections of nude or scantily dressed women in provocative poses, designed for the male heterosexual … [Read More...]

John Green once dubbed his 2009 novel Paper Towns an attempt to “disembowel the evil construction of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.” So it’s more than a little disappointing that the sneakily sexist Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype is alive and well in the Paper Towns film adaptation.
Coined by A.V. Club writer Nathan Rabin in 2007, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive … [Read More...]

Clothing brand American Apparel is no stranger to controversy. Over the years, its risqué ads—from in-your-face billboards to shocking online campaigns—have incited everything from mild discomfort to serious complaints. And it’s no wonder why: For years, the American Apparel image has been inextricably intertwined with the exploitation of women’s bodies.
Not only are AA's models often scantily … [Read More...]

On Sunday evening, New York magazine released a devastating story featuring the first-hand accounts from 35 women Bill Cosby has allegedly assaulted. Yet perhaps the most unsetting aspect of the story was not its words, but its cover: the women sitting side-by-side, in stark black and white, feet flat on the ground—and at the end of the line, one empty chair.
As New York's social media team wrote … [Read More...]

The jailhouse death of Sandra Bland has her family and activists asking a lot of questions—which don't seem to have good answers. Bland's case is the latest example of police violence against black women, joining many other women and girls of color who have been harassed, abused or killed at the hands of law enforcement.
The Ms. Blog spoke with Kimberlé Crenshaw, founder and director of the African American Policy … [Read More...]

Reprinted with permission from the American Association of University Women.
Would you like to work seven extra months for free just to earn the same paycheck as your male co-workers? We didn’t think so. Unfortunately, if you’re a black woman in the United States, that’s a likely reality.
Black women were paid 64 percent of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2013. That means it takes the typical black … [Read More...]

Ms.cellany

“Once I put this baby in the ground, I’m ready…This means war.” These were the words spoken by Geneva Reed-Veal as she eulogized her late daughter, Sandra Bland, last week. On July 10, 28-year-old Bland was pulled over by police in Prairie View, Texas for allegedly failing to signal before changing lanes. According to police, she became […]

Female mice experience pain differently than male mice, according to a study published last week in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience. That means pain medication that works on a male mouse might not work for a human woman, researchers say. Those findings might seem trivial to people who don’t spend their days wearing white lab coats, but […]

“You cannot live and support a family on $18,000 in the State of New York, period,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) this week. “That’s why we have to raise the minimum wage.” And so they are, at least for fast-food employees working at chains with a minimum 30 U.S. locations. On Wednesday, New […]